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Bloodstained: Narco-Culture

The narco-state is a platform where the systematic control of organized crime expands. It is a phenomenon that works as a vortex, sweeping away everything it encounters on its way.

Those elements that we acknowledge as proper of the nation-state have been slowly appropriated by the narco-states. The political apparatus, culture, and national territory have fallen prey to this new operational cell. What’s more, throughout the years organized crime has become a niche from which nations are producing entire generations soaked in violence, crime, and corruption.

Similarly, in an alarming way organized crime is infiltrating popular culture. In the last few years, the drug lord has adopted a figure of benefactor, a kind of Robin Hood that executes the obligations of the state, thus gaining the approval of the masses.

In recent years there has also intensified a media campaign that presents the leaders of drug trafficking as heroes and heroines. Following the popularity of the so called narco-corridos (subgenre of Norteño music in which themes and personalities of drug trafficking are commemorated), there have also spread the “narconovelas” (narco-soap operas), in which the drug lord’s figure is romanticized, violence is portrayed as something ephemeral, and the entrepreneurial skills of these individuals to build drug empires are magnified.

With the “narconovelas” the lives of the leaders of cartels are narrated as stories full of adventures. In the case of the men, masculinity, force, and determination are exalted. On the other hand, in the case of women, a more feminine side is portrayed in which power, beauty, and seduction go hand in hand with crime. Regardless of the gender, in both scenarios drug trafficking is portrayed in a superficial manner, this is to say that these “narconovelas” (and narco-corridos) work as mirages that solely touch the surface of a very deep wound.

Unfortunately these types of series have become very lucrative as the count with record number of ratings, finding audiences who have found a new form of entertainment in these stories. Nevertheless, the narco-novelas are only one of the many manifestations in which it is materialized the rise of narco-culture and the influence of organized crime in our society.

Therefore, we are rationalizing and accepting organized crime in very subtle ways. In many cases we mistake the atrocities of real life with those of fiction and we end up increasing our tolerance levels to the pain that crime leaves us behind.

Of course, behind the expansion and ramifications of organized crime we encounter the incapacity of states to provide security, solid institutions, socio-economic stability, or even credibility. So, due to this, criminal organizations adopt such role and contrary to the fiction of soap operas where these individuals become benevolent saviors of the masses, the leaders of drug trafficking utilize mechanisms of terror as methods of subjugation.

Hence, we must understand that little by little we are accepting this new culture and letting it enter our homes. We cannot lose out of sight that organized crime in all its forms dilutes the social fabric and destroys entire nations. Let us not forget that behind every novela there is a crude reality. Today in Iguala, Mexico are the 43 missing students, 43 young victims. The question is, how many more?

One thought on “Bloodstained: Narco-Culture”

I don’t think we are accepting the activities of organized crime because of entertainment media. It has more to do with fear and indifference. If you live around organized crime, you won’t stand up to it because, hey, they might kill you; and those far away from the action don’t give it any more thought than a mere, “That’s too bad.”